Valentine Misery
by Borgin
Summary: It's Valentine's Day, but there are many life-changing things going on...
1. Part 1

**Ginny's Friend Draco** **  
Part One**

by [Borgin][1]

A/N: Rachel is an OC of mine who should probably be given her own story, because I have reasons why she's not in the books. This is the first part of a submission to Flourish's challenge, but first I want con. crit. Please give some! 

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Harry and Hermione sat uncomfortably on the couch in the common room, waiting for the dreadful day to come to an end. Members of various parties had forced the whole occasion upon them. Rachel and Ron were most likely making out in the hallway, and Harry suspected that Ginny had snuck off to be with his nemesis, Draco. But whatever chemistry existed between those couples had escaped the relationship in discussion. And after an hour of meaningless chatter, Hermione stood up and left the common room, heading for the worn book that had been placed on her bed that morning. 

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Ron and Rachel making out? Never. The two Gryffindors despised each other. The whole relationship was an act, a play. Rachel was resting her head on Ron's lap, mentally reviewing her notes of the next day's History of Magic test. And Ron let her, thinking about how he'd rather be the one in the common room with Hermione. 

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Ginny followed Draco stealthily through the dark grounds. The Forbidden Forest was approaching. She saw dull lights in the distance. 

Suddenly, Ginny learned why every member of her house distrusted Draco Malfoy. This wasn't a secluded spot he was leading her to. It was a gathering of masked men. 

A Death Eater convention. 

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Ron sat up straight. Something was wrong with his sister. It was an instinct that much worry and fret over many years had created, but most of the time it only happened around Draco - who Ron considered Slytherin filth, but trusted his sister's judgment enough to let her be. 

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Ginny was scared, the most frightened she had ever been in her life. She was even more scared than she had been during the diary fiasco. 

"Ginny Weasley. You are just the one we were waiting for," was all she heard before falling into a deep oblivion. 

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Draco was standing with the other Death Eaters, laughing as the girl fell. 

Ginny Weasley was dead. 

And Draco went back to the castle, as his companions walked away, slowly. 

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It was Parvati Patil who raised the alarm. "There's a girl, dead, in the Forbidden Forest!" she began to yell. But she was bewildered as she heard herself scream. I don't know of this for sure, she thought, so why am I announcing this to the world? 

Seamus, who had been outside with Parvati for a heartfelt chat, wondered why Parvati was screaming. She couldn't have possibly seen what had been going on, could she? 

But Parvati's cries certainly helped. It wasn't long before McGonagall and Hagrid set off to find the dead girl, and they were able to identify her. "Go to you houses. NOW!" the professor hollered with an amplified voice. And everyone was frightened enough to obey. 

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Rachel had fallen asleep with her head still on Ron's lap, and despite his efforts, she wouldn't budge. "C'mon, Rachel," he moaned, "we need to get inside the common room." As he watched McGonagall approach, he told her, "Professor, Rachel's just not moving!" 

But the stern professor shrugged it off. "Ron, I need you - and Harry," she said with a worried tone. Ron was a sixth year - his twin brothers had left the school the year before. Ron went to get Harry, and they emerged together, worried expressions on their faces. 

And they followed her down the corridor. 

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Hermione was sitting on her bed, the curtains drawn to permit her privacy. The book she was holding was called _Why Relationships Are Undesirable_. And this Valentine's Day, she bent over and kissed the worn and soiled cover… 

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…He picked up the knife blade, and kissed it. His first murder with the Avada Kedrava curse. Sweet Revenge, he thought. Draco Malfoy has finally done it. Next stop - overthrowing Voldemort. But his grin had not completely formed when Severus Snape caught him. "Draco, come with me," he ordered, and the boy reluctantly followed. 

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Where am I? Ginny asked herself as she rose from her position on the bed in the dark room. Feeling sleepy, she paid no attention as she walked through the door. 

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Rachel found herself lying in a heap on the floor. Ron wouldn't have just abandoned her - she knew that much. She settled herself in one of her old hiding places, and climbed through the walls. 

Before long, she had reached the old headmaster's office. She slowly put her ear to the wall, where she could hear… 

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"…Boys, I'm terribly sorry to tell you of Ginny's death. It appears that she was murdered. I'm sorry Ron," Dumbledore added sympathetically, "but she is really gone this time - we found her body. 

"Harry, there was a message engraved in a tree. Hagrid made me a rubbing of it, so that we could confirm the message. It reads, 'Potter, her brother will go next,'" he showed them the paper as he recited his message. 

A gasp of shock escaped from the terrorized Ron. But Harry was able to cut in first. "Professor," he said firmly, "this is all a plot to get me, right?" 

"It certainly seems so, Harry," was all Rachel heard before hurrying back through the walls towards her tower. 

But before she had traveled too far, Rachel had tripped and fallen. And due to the blood falling from her face, it seemed as if she had fallen on a piece of glass. 

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"Rachel Lucas!" the headmaster said sternly after they had taken her to the hospital wing. "Don't you remember out agreement? No more spying?" 

"Yes," she replied sheepishly. "I remember. But Ron had left me in the middle of the hallway. Besides, before I fell asleep, I felt Ron go tense. I just wanted to know what was going on!" 

And then Madam Pomfrey showed them out, because she wanted to get her patient's face to heal, meaning the girl would have to go to sleep. 

And after they had been assured that getting sleep would be the best option for them as well, Harry and Ron headed to their dormitory, where they found a frenzied Hermione waiting, frantic. 

In all, it could be considered an abnormal Valentine's Day. 

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_To be continued..._

   [1]: mailto:princesstaranda@yahoo.com



	2. Interlude and Part 2

**Ginny's Friend Draco**   
By Borgin 

**Interlude**

Ginny's funeral was full of many friends and family members. She was rather popular in all the houses - many admired her courageous and steadfast ways. All had forgotten the fiasco of her first year - she was a greatly admired student (plus, her family name was so spread around that every student felt compelled to go. So they did.) 

Draco has been expelled, due to his part in Ginny's death. Professor Snape was the one who caught him, and it made him a bit more popular in the eyes of various students. 

And Rachel recovered. She was careful, though, to never find herself crawling through the walls again. 

Ginny's spirit left her body, but no one has noticed that it never reached the afterlife. 

And the story picks up on the Valentine's Day of the famed trio's seventh year. 

------------] **Part 2**

Ron, Harry, Rachel, and Hermione had found a table and were spread around it, completing their homework. The NEWTS would be taken soon - and they were already nearly exhausted, from the excessive homework that had been piled up on top of them. And it also happened that they had forgotten about Ginny's deathday - today, February 14, 1998. 

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But others did not. 

Draco had been nearly disowned by his father for getting himself expelled. But instead, he found himself under constant pressure to learn the dark magic that his father insisted that he learn. And he found that this chore was worse than having killed Ginny herself. Whenever he found himself being scolded for a misaim, he began to think of Ginny. Of how she was rather sweet and a good listener. She was intelligent, but knew when to keep quiet. She was a good companion to have along. 

And he began to regret his first murder. 

And if things went his way, it would be his second to last. 

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Ginny's soul had always wandered around Hogwarts. She had attended all of her classes, and knew exactly which page in her schoolbooks she was to study. But for some reason, and she thought it an odd one, her teachers and friends ignored her. As if she wasn't there. 

And someone else was missing - for some reason, she could not find Draco, the love of her life. Where had he gone? 

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Rachel was a slow walker. But she got up, and found her way to Ginny's dormitory. It was nearing seven-thirty, the time Ginny died the year before. And Rachel had been around the dead long enough to know that it took exactly one year for a soul to become a ghost. If she wanted to learn what had happened to Ginny, she figured that she should at least find her. So she went into Ginny's old dormitory, which seemed to be the most likely place that Ginny could be found. 

But when Ginny's body materialized, she screamed. 

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The ghosts of those who die from the Avada Kedrava curse should be solid, with no imperfections. But Ginny's body was not like that. 

She had a silver-stained hole leading from her heart. And then, she looked down at herself, and saw what Rachel had seen. She was translucent. She was dead. 

And she fled. 

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Rachel missed seeing where the ghost had gone to, as she had fainted in the middle of the room. 

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Ron heard a scream. Then he saw a ghost-like shimmer fly past. But he, like Rachel, missed where it had led. 

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Ginny was flying. I never knew that ghosts could fly, she mused, but I suppose they could. 

So she flew. 

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We don't know why visiting Draco was her first stop. Why would someone want to visit the person responsible for his or her death? 

But Ginny seemed to not be able to realize that he killed her. She did notice that he was not at school. So she decided to visit him, to check up on him. Draco was the first one she had ever really cared for, so why not visit him? 

She was able to find his bedroom, where she scared him. He was reviewing some of the thought processes that went along with the "Avada Kedrava" curse. It seemed very likely to the young man that he would need to be able to perform it soon, if he was to kill his father. 

And he nearly rejoiced when he saw Ginny. Her hair was a pale pink, and she wore robes of a translucent gray, but he could recognize her. In the midst of their unfinished business, he forgot entirely that she was a ghost and attempted to make out with the air. 

"Oh, Draco, that tickles!" she shrieked in delight. 

Draco looked up. "Sorry, Gin," he told the ghost in front of him. "I kind of, you see, forgot that you were, um, well, dead." 

"It's alright," she assured him. "I've only just realized it myself. After I finish with you, I'll become the second resident ghost who was killed while she was a student. At Hogwarts, I mean." 

"Huh?" the boy wondered at exactly what she meant by 'finishing with him'. 

"Oh, you know, Draco," she explained quietly. "I help you kill your father - the nasty and vicious thing he is - and you'll help me. You'll become a ghost, too, Draco." 

But the concept of a young death scared the young man. He was a member of an evil sect, but the idea of death coming to him scared him. "Ginny, I don't know," he began. 

"To stop your father from harming you," she warned, "you'll have to listen to me." 

So a reluctant Draco followed the dead girl's instructions. 

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The gruesome details of the deaths of Lucius and Draco Malfoy will not be relayed in this manuscript. It is said that the son challenged his father to a duel, and in the midst of the event both were killed. 

So Draco did commit his second and last murder, but during the downfall of himself. 

It has been rumored that the results of this battle also helped the dark lord Voldemort to be defeated as well. 

But to Ginny's dismay, she learned that Draco, unlike her, did not have any unfinished business. 

And Ginny spent eternity gossiping with the ghost known as Moaning Myrtle in the constantly flooded girl's toilet. 

And the Hogwarts trio? Their story is a completely different tale, to be told at another time. 


End file.
